"For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light." -Ps. 36:9

Total Well-Being

September 13, 2009

Reading Numbers today, I was reminded how God longs to bless His people. I read the famous “priestly blessing.” How thankful I am to remember that God wants to “bless me and keep me; the Lord make his face shine upon me and be gracious to me; the Lord lift up his countenance upon me and give me peace.” – Num. 6:22-26.

One of the blessings God gives His people is peace. We Westerners often think of peace as simply “the lack of war.” It’s circumstantial. It’s an environment. However, in Hebrew the word for peace is “shalom,” which my ESV Study Bible notes explains, implies “total well-being.”

God doesn’t just desire there to be a lack of strife, war, and desolation. The absence of these things is not enough. God’s peace is more comprehensive than that. Instead, God desires me to have total well-being. A well-being that only He can ultimately give and that surpasses understanding. A well-being that doesn’t depend on how difficult my circumstances may be today or in the future. Whatever life’s struggles, I can meet them with a divine inner peace that is God’s blessing to me. A well-being that’s eternal.

I love when God’s word is exposited. Thank you. It’s a great reminder and something I need to recognize on a daily basis. The “peace of God” is the only peace that truly comforts and gives hope and that is indeed a blessing.